Carthagiens but discord among them selues and diobediēce to their rulers Scic lia what made the romains so sone to ouerthrow Grece but that manye cities refused to be gouerned by the Atheniens and some other by the Macedonians and others by other Thucyd. so that it was an easy matter to win those countries that by ciuill warre and disobedience had lost and vndon them selues what made either Dane or Normand to sette his fote in this noble realm Englande cōquered by discord but werines in the subiectes of their own naturall rulers and malicious desire to haue innouacions This hath ben the vndoing of all countries to be loth to obey and readye to rebell Contrariwise where good concorde and brotherlye vnitie where loyaltie and obedience is there muste neades bee a sure state vvhat preserueth cōmonvvelthes as Solon being asked what preserued a cōmon wealthe answered when the subiectes obey the magistrates and the magistrates the lawes This hathe kept the Venetians common welth so longe and so many hundreth yeres in tranquilitie and honor in that they haue sought to reuerence good lawes ād obey their maiestrats not because their Aristocratie is the best kynd of Gouernment as by no meanes it is nether by reason experiēce nor iudgement of Philosophers Let vs therfore contende wyth them in that preserueth them whiche is humble obedience faythfulnes The calof the sedicicus and true seruice to our countrie and the head therof And thinke that it is the call of Sathan that moueth vs to the contrary to entangle vs lyke a cunnyng fouler vsinge such a voyce as we lyke in the net of destruction both of body and soule If we obey and do our dutie all the blessinges of God shal be poured vpon vs. VVe shall lyue in peace bothe of bodie and mynde with leysure and libertie to serue God freely without feare of thennemie to encombre vs in our possessions All good things folovve obedience ordrede of Antechriste to vexe our conscience Our land shall haue Raine and sunne shine in dewe season our cornes and frutes shall prosper our cattell and goodes shall encreace oure bodies shal be without diseases our myndes quiet with out crosses our wiues shall not be barrē our childrē no vnthriftes our seruauntes no loyterours nor pickers our neighbours not enuious but louinge oure counsellours wyse and prudēt our men of warre couragious our preachers faithful and not lordlyke our lawyers not couetous our iustices no bribares oure lordes and noble men no fooles our officers no hādmakers and our gouernors no tyrauntes For where as God saieth elles Dabo vobis regem in ira inea Ose 13. I will geue them a kyng when I am angry to anger them He shall then saye to the contrary Constituam super illos vnctum meum qui regnabit inter illos in aeternum I wyll apoint them a prince that they shall neuer bee wery of nor that shal deale with them vncurteously Do you not heare how lamētably your natural mother your countrey of Englād Englādes voyce to hir cluldrē calleth vpon you for obediēces saying Oh remēber remēber my dear children in what case you stāde your enemies be roūd about you lyke vnsaciable rauenours to pluck me frō you to cast you out of my lap where I haue this 110 yeres lyke a faithful mother nourished you a tyme sufficiēt for me I trow to know you you me I haue bene and am glad of you I delight and reioyce in you aboue all other peoples In declaraciō wherof I haue always spued out cast frō me Danes Frēche Norwegiās and Scottes I could brooke none of thē for the tender loue that I bare vnto you of whome I haue my name I neuer denyed to minister to you my singular cōmodities which God hath lent me for you as corne and cattell lande and pasture wull and cloth Englandes liberalitie toward hir children lead and tynne fleshe fishe gold and siluer and all my other treasures I haue poured them out among you and enriched you aboue all your neighbours about you which make them to enuie you couet me Besides this God hathe brought forthe in me the greatest and excellētest treasure that he hath for your comfort and al the worldes He would that out of my wombe should come that seruaunt of his your brother Ihō VVyclefe who begate Husse who begat Luther who begat truth VVhat greter honor could you or I haue Christes second birth in Englād then that it pleased Christ as it were in a second birth to be borne again of me amōg you And will you now suffer me or rather by your disobedience purchase me to be a mother withoute my childrē and to be made the nurse of a sorte of infideles Idolaters and Turkes Can I abide to be with out you or can you be cōtent to be without me Oh God graunt that I neuer se the day that the basterdly brode of ambytious frenche men eate and enioy the frutes whiche I prepare for you my deare chyldren Lette me rather satisfie my thirste with their effeminate bloud then they should pluck from you my motherly breastes Sticke to youre mother as she sticketh to you Let me keepe in quiet and feede as I haue done your wyues your children and your kinsfolkes Obey your mistres and mine which God hath made lady ouer vs bothe by nature and lawe You can not be my children if you be not her subiectes I wyll none of you if you will none of hir If you loue me you can not hate hir as my hope is you doo not if you obey her honour hir and loue hir be you assured that I wyll not fayle you at your neede with any of my good frutes that you can requyre I wyll fill your bosomes and your mouthes your wyues and your children with plentie And if your enemies come against you I will sound so terrible against them that their hartes shall fayle them to come of the Seas and treade vpon me I wyll not suffer so vyle a nacion to remayne quietly or to haue any fotinge in me wherfore as a friende I exhorte you and as a mother require you my dere Englysh chyldren to knyt your selues together with brotherly loue and with vnfained obedience to defende me and my gouernesse agaynst those your auncient enemies whiche euer were in feare of you and yet be If they attempte any thinge againste me playe the men and honour me with the sacrifice of their heads and carcases Then shall I thynke that you bee no mungrelles but the trewe posteritie of my auncient childrē the olde English mē which by their valiaūtnesse made me lady of Fraunce and gouernesse of al their chefe cyties follow your fathers steps delēd your mothers honour Be no slaues wher you haue bene lordes nor subiectes where you haue bene rulers ¶ Thus good trew harted Englishe men speaketh your countrey vnto you not in worde but in deede VVherfore geue no dulle eare to hir nor harken not to any vayne blastes or voyces whiche maye drawe you from the loue of your coūtrey from the sauing of your selues and the defēce of your souereigne You shall finde loue for your obedience faithe for your truthe care and study to kepe you for your redy good will to obey hir Let no enchauntment bewitche you Let no spiririte deceaue you Let no straunger make you straungers to your selues You see their reasōs be trisles their wordes but wynde whiche goo aboute by their blusterynge blastes to blowe you fyrst from youre dutie to God whiche commaundeth you to obeye youre Rulars next from your faith whiche you owe to your prince for that care and loue whiche she beareth toward you And last of all from your quiet and countrey which you can not enioye but by doing your dutie in obeying Let vs therfore good brethren I bescche you in the tēder mercies of God in the bowelles of Christe stoppe our eares from hearing staye our myndes frō conceauing and shut vp our mouthes from vttering any suche venyme or poyson whiche these mount-bankes brynge out of our enemies lande to insecte poyson and corrupt vs vnder the pretence of playsters to salue vs. ¶ Let vs heare God rather then man which crieth and commaundeth vpon payne of dampnacion to obey his lieutenaūt and supreme officer Against whō we can not kicke but we must be Gods enemies false subiectes and Satans seruantes ¶ Let vs seke to requite her with thankfulnes which studieth to kepe vs in quietnes Let vs daylye call to God with lifted vp heartes and handes for her preseruation and long lyfe that she may many yeares cary the sworde of our defence and there with cutt of the head of that Hidra the Antichrist of Rome in suche sort as it neuer growe againe in this realme of England that Gods glory maye flory she good mens conscience may beat rest this noble Realme in honor the Quenes Maiestie in long selicitie which God grauut Amen ₠Who so knoweth the Lordes Will and doth it not shal be beaten w̄ many stripes Luke XII
this author should thinke that I make to longe a flory she before I come to hande strokes with him as an euil fenced mā that can make a better bragge of his cūning then when nede is vse it I mynde before I saye any more of this matter to buckle with him in his argumentes and to trie what blowes he gyueth VVherin if I followe not the order that he kepith leafe by leafe and reason by reasō which I auoyde because he followeth no methode Yet I truste so to hyt the pithe of it that all suche as be indifferent shall thynke him fully aunswered and he him selfe with the boulting out of the truthe not offendid For I haue that opinion of the mans honestie and godlynes that he will not disdayne to heare better reasons nor be loth to be taught in any thing he misseth Man may sone erre Knowyng that no mans iudgement is so sounde no mans wytte so ripe nor no mans learning so perfight but he may sumty me misse the quissy on and fall into errour For as it is Gods peculyar propertie neuer to erre so it is a botche in mans nature seldome to hyt the treuth as we see in all the sectes of Philosophers Both philosophers and diuines erre Stoickes Academikes Paripatecians Epicures and all other which lackyng neither wytte learning nor diligence yet came as nere the trouthe as darkenes to light and errour to truthe Yea not onely they but many auncient Fathers yea I myght saye all not being vtterly withoute Gods spirite Yet were not alwayes without their errours as Augustine who humbly confesseth it Hierom Ambrose and Origene with the rest who can not denye it Hominis est sayeth Cicero errare labi falli decipi No man can warraunt hym selfe Cic. in off but that he shall some tyme swerue and thinke he seeth when in deede he is blynde 〈◊〉 is man therfore I doubte not wyll paciently heare what may truly be sayd against hym Specially seinge that this attempte is not so muche to reproue hym as to proue the matter and to satisfie tender myndes whiche by probable reasons are soone wounded and onles they heare the countrary not so soone healed I shal in this treatise passe ouer al bie matters as of VVyat the Duke of Suffolke the tyranny of suche as then gouerned the decaye of the Realme and all suche other appendixes whiche were rather ornamentes to decke then reasons to proue the cause and will only turne the argumentes out of their cloutes and consider them as they be in them selues A similitude and not as they be set out with colours For like as a man that would bye an house wyll not soo muche weye the gaye Payntinge as the suer buyldynge So who wyll iudge of any matter truely must laye it before his eyes nakedly 1 The argumentes as I remember bee these The argumentes not many in nomber but handsomlye amplified Fyrst that what so euer is agaynste nature the same in a common vvealth is not tollerable but the gouernment of a vvomā is against nature Ergo it is not tollerable The second vvhat so euer is forbidden by scripture is not lavvfull But a vvoman to rule is forbidden by scripture Ergo it is not lavvfull The third if a vvoman may not speke in the congregation muche lesse she may rule But she may not speake in the cōgregaciō ergo she may not rule The fourth vvhat the ciuil lavve forbiddeth that is not lavvfull but the rule of a vvoman the Ciuill lavv forbiddeth ergo it is not lavvfull The fift seing therfolovveth more inconueniēce of the rule of vvomē then of mens gouernmēt therfore it is not to be borne in a common vvelth The last the Doctors and Canonistes forbidde it ergo it can not be good These as I remēber be the Proppes that hold vp this matter or rather the pikaxes to vnder mynde the state This is the cannon shot to batter the vvalles of them perial seate and to beate the crovvne of the true heires head The blast vvas blovven out of season It is a sore enterprise to alter so aunciēt an order and to chaūge lavves of suche antiquite specially at suche tyme as the realme is full of trouble mēs myndes othervvise disquieted and the forren enemies gaping for occasion to inuade and ouerrenne vs Zalencus counsell vvas Zalencus lavve that vvho so euer vvould attempt to persvvade the people to breake olde lavves and make nevve should stande vvith his necke in the halter that if he proued it not necessarie he might be knit vp by and by And if he could proue them he should be sett at libertie And the Garamants in like maner apoynted it death to alter anye one of those lavves The Gara mantes that vvere made This they apoynted in their commō vvelths because they cōsidred that the breach of good lavvs vvas the breakeneck of the countrey And shall vve thinke it a light matter to alter a state to plucke the chief magistrate out of her throne and geue scope to light heades to descant vpon their dutie according to their phansie I vvolde haue vviss hed that it had bene vndone or novv it is done that the doer vvold for the quyetinge of vveake myndes acknovvledge his error But vvhether he dothe or no I doubt not by that time vvee haue vnfolded hys argumentes seene throughe his vvhole shoppe and perused hys vvares the good subiects shal both think them not saleable ād be satissied and the mouths of busy bodies stopped And as this is don vpō good cōscience and not to curry fauor so I pray God to geue it foisen in the harts of true subiects VVel novv to the first argument To the first argument You say in your minor that the rule of a vvoman is against nature because the vvoman is by nature vveake vnskilful ād subiect to the mā c VVell befoore I ansvveare to these vve muste se vvhat is ment by this vvorde nature VVhat is nature hovve farre it stretcheth hovv it must be taken in this proposition and then hovv the rule of a vvoman maye agree or not agree vvith it Nature is nothing els but a general disposition ingraft of God in all creatures for the preseruatiō of the vvhol and of euer ikind or as Seneca saith Sen. de benef Quid aliud est natura quam deus et diuina ratio toti mundo vniuersisque eius partibus inferta Nature is nothinge els but God him selfe or a diuine order spred throughout the whole world and ingrafte in euerye part of it as in all fire to be hot all water moiste all heauy things to moue downward al light things vp ward The sonne and the moone to run their course motu circulari c. whiche are so set orders in the substance of euery creature as it must nedes follow that natural disposition onles it pleseth the creator who is the Lord of all to alter those
why let you me not alone with them If they be yours shewe your euidence howe you came by them Math. 20. shall not I do with myne what I liste Is therfore your eye ill because I am good Murmur ye at myne anoynted because she is a woman who made man and woman you or I yf I made hir to lyue may I not make hir to reigne If I apoynt hir to the office can I not adourne hir and make hir hable to discharge it VVhy then you of litle faithe eyther feare you my good wil or mistrust you my power you are muche worse then Saule in this poynte whome I reiectyd for disobedience For when I sent my seruaunt Dauid 1. Samu. yonge of age and no Gyante instature with his shepe hoke and his slynge Saule woulde haue armed hym wyth hys owne armoure But when Dauid threwe it of and wente his waye naked against his enemy a great hyghe monstre in comparison of hym Saule mystrusted not as you do murmured not as you doo sayinge ah this poore boye is not hable to be our champion and to defende our libertie but he prayed for him and wyshed him well in the name of Iehouah the lorde of hostes It is I tell you all one to me to saue with many or few with armour or without by a woman or by a man The maicstie of god represēted by a vvomā no les then by a man VVhat letteth that she may not as well represent my maiestie as any of you all If I be best represented by the shining ornamentes of the mynde and not the outwarde sturdines of the body why may not she haue at my hande that any of you haue wisdom to gouerne iustice to punish clemēcie to pardon Dansel 13. Num. 22. discrescion to iudge I that coulde make Daniel a sucking babe to iudge better then the wisest of the lawyers A brute beaste to reprehende the follie of a Prophet and poore fisshers to confound the great clarkes of the worlde can not I make a woman to be a good ruler ouer you and a mete minister for me VVhat vnly kelihod se you in hir are your eyes so dulle or your myndes so malycious that you cānot or wyll not see those Iewelles wherwith I haue decked hir is that rare learning that singulare modestie that heauenly clemencie that christiane constancie that loue of religion that excellent wysdom with many more of my graces nothīg in your sight I shewed you the lyke towarde in a man of late but for your owne vnworthines I toke him from you And wil you nowe I haue geuē you this make your selues vnworthy to enioye hir Leaue of leaue of your owne pollycie which is but folly and embrace my ordinaunce as it is your dutie For I pulle down whome I will and set vp whome I wil. Though God speaketh not thus to vs audibely yet suer he nedes must thus speake in our cōscience inwardly VVherfore let vs leaue of to dispute and beginne to praye Vve must praye for the Quenes estate and not dispute of hir right that it maye please hym to stably she hir seate amonge vs and to sende hir longe lyfe and quiet reigne to defende hir and vs from inuasions abrode and conspiracies at home to geue hir grace to seeke his honour and maynteine the truthe to guide hir harte in the choise of hir husbande and to make hir frutefull and the mother of manye chyldren that thys Realme maye haue the graftes of so goodly a tree That oure chyldren and posterite maye see hirs occupying hir throne with honour ioye quietnes The remembraunce of hir vertues carieth me awaye from my matter wherfore I return And becaus Ari. is thought to be of such authorite in this matter Ansvver to Aristo let vs a litle examine his woordes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the male is moore mete to rule then the female well what inferre you ergo the woman vnmete I denie that argument you should rather saye the woman is not so mete that we could graunt you and not a whyt hurt our cause for otherwyse no man will reason as to say this man is better learned then the other ergo thother is vnlearned Chalke is whyter then cheese ergo cheese is black No man that knoweth what comparison is wyll bryng two contraries in one comparison as to saye pitche is blacker then snowe or fyer is whotter then water But if they compare two thynges together they must be suche as they haue in one qualite or propertie maius et minus As I saye right A man is more mete to rule then a childe That is not by affirmacion and negaciō as because th one is apt therfore thother is not and euen so of a mā and a womā he is more mete therfore it foloweth not that she is vtterly vnmete And therfore Plato Arist master not a whit wurse learned then his scholer Plat. in Timeo saith Magistratus vtriusque Sexus preficimus nuptijs our maner is to make officers of both sexes to ordre mariage And saint Paule as we haue declared gyueth them a kynd of gouernment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to gouerne the house And lykewyse Aristo Arist in Eth. lib. 8. Cap. 10. him selfe in the Ethikes So that neither Philosopher nor Apostle dealeth with them so hardly as you do But Arist 3. polit saieth that cities be euil gouerned by women Vvhat by al or by some if he saye by all we can reproue him by many instances if he saye by some we can saye the same of men So that you se that these be no oracles which you bring in out of Aristotle wherby if you haue no better authoritie then this you can not put them out of possession In this poynte I can not but think you much blame wurthy not that maliciously as many do you peruert the sayinges of the authors But for that negligently you passe them ouer without waying and vnderstandinge their sayinges without conferring and matching place with place and saying with saying For if in the citinge of Aristotle you had ioigned the Ethikes with the Pollitikes I surely beleue that you wold haue made him none of your iury in this matter Lib. 8. ca. 10. Vt supra For in the Ethikes handlinge the kindes of rule what is a Monarchie what an Aristocratie and what a Democratie saithe of the rule of the man and the wife thus Viro cum vxore ius id intercedit quod est in optimorum potestate Nam pro dignitate ijs in rebus imperat quae dignae sunt viro Quae autem feminam decent eas ei tribuit Qu od si in omnibus presit vir ac dominetur in paucorum potestatem fit mutatio quoniam contra dignitatem facit non qui est praestantior Interdum etiam mulieres praesunt cum amplū patrimonium consecutae sunt The rule and kind of gouernment betwixt the man and the wife
thou if thou warte in the same place suffer if it were not for thine owne sake yet for the dignities and office sake to be withoute honoure If we can thus reason wyth oure owne proude stomackes we shall soone leaue of to be Adames children and become Goddes and the Quenes obedient subiectes The hart I say must be framed and brought into the circle of obediēce Obediēce spryngeth from the hart and then wyll all the reaste followe Thy knee shall bowe thy Cap shall of thy tonge shall reuerently speake of thy soueraign whē and wher thou oughtest For lyke as the fountain being clear or trobled the water that goeth from it must be good or bad so the hearte beynge in order the reaste canne not bee out of order Thy tong must be dedicated to God to speke wel and reuerently of his minister for els as Salomon saith he will make the birdes of the ayre to vtter thy rebellion Furthermore it is thy boundeduti to geue her The .2 part of obedyence Dein 1. olymth whē she calleth for part of thi goods that as Demosth saith by parting with a little thou maist keepe the whole Is it not better to healpe the mother and mistres of thy country with thy goods and body then by withholding thy hande and nigging to make her not hable to kepe out thine ennemy haddest thou rather that thy auncient ennemy the proud french man or vntrusty scot should come to ransake thy coffers to deflour thy wife to rauish thy daughters to beat thy childrens brains vpon the walles to fire thy house to spoile thy goodes driue away thy cattle enioy thine enheritaunce cut thine own throte and bring thy country to naughte then that the Quenes officer should take the .20 parte of thy possessiōs for thy defence If thou wilt not haue these mischiefes to happen thou must do thy dutye in paying with a franke and free hart without grutching or groning specially seing thou gatherest all that thou hast in her peax Shuldest thou that arte a husbandman follow thy tillage reape thy corn and enioy it if thou wart not defended by her diligence Shouldest thou that arte a grasier kepe thy fat Bullockes and flockes of shepe til they were fatte if she were not thy shephearde Shouldest thou that arte a marchant cary out and fetch home to thy exceding gain thy merchaundise onles she were thine Admirall Could the Lord or gentlemā enioy his rents if she defended not the tenauntes Coulde the bishops ruffle in their robes kepe their great houses ād haue their thousands yerely withal the rest of ther superfluitie if she wer not their bulwarke and tooke care for them while thei care not for her And to be short there is none that should enioy his owne if her protection were not If thou mystrust the my spendyng of that thou geuest and she taketh thou art to folish For could she that in al her lyse hath liued vpon her owne so humbly without pride so moderately with out prodigalitie so may denly without pompe now find in her heart in vnnecessary charges to lashe out thine VVilt thou haue a tast how prodigal or pompous she is I pray the then marke these two poynts which I know to be true although in that Sexe they be straunge vii yeres after her fathers death The quenes sobrietie in aparel she had so proud a stomake and so much delighted in glisteryng gases of the world in gay apparell riche atty re and precious iewels that in all that tyme she neuer loked vpon those that her father left her but ones ād that agaynst her wyll And after so gloried in them that there came neuer gold nor stone vpon her head tyl her sister enforced her to lay of her former sobre nes and bear her company in her glisteryng gaynes Yea and than she so ware it as euery man myght se that her bodie caried that which her heart misliked I am sure that her maidenly apparel which she vsed in Kyng Edwardes tyme The pōpe of english ladies abated by the quenes example made the noble mēs daughters and wyues to be ashamed to be drest and paynted lyke pecockes being more moued with hir most vertuous example then with all that euer Paule and Peter wrote touchyng that matter Yea this I know that a great mans daughter receaiuinge from Ladye Marie before she was Quene goodly apparel of tynsyll cloth of golde and veluet layd on with parchement lace of gold when she sawe it sayde what shal I doo with it mary saide a gentle woman weare it Nay quod she that were a shame to followe my lady Mary against Gods woorde A yonge ladies ansvvere and leaue my lady Ely zabeth whiche foloweth Gods woorde See that good example is ofte tymes muche better then a great deale of preachinge And this all men knowe that whē al the ladies hent vp thattire of the Scottish skyttes at the commyng in of the Scottishe Quene to go vnbrydled and with their heares frownsed and curled and double curled she altered nothinge but to the shame of them all kepte hir olde may denly shamefastnesse c. An other thyng to declare how lytle she setteth by this worldlye pompe is this That in all hir tyme she neuer medled with monye but agaynst hir wyll but semed to set so lytle by it that she thought to touche it was to defile hir pure handes consecrated to turne ouer good bookes to lyfte vp vnto God in prayer and to deale almes to the pore Are not these argumentes sufficient to make the thynke of hir that she wyll neyther call to the before she hath nede nor mispend it vaynely af-after she hath it An exhor tacion to liberalitie VVherfore if thou bearest the hart of a christian thou wylt ministre to christes lieutenaunt willinglye and gladly If thou bast the mynde of a trewe subiect thou wylt not see thy souereigne lacke If thou haste the forcaste of a wyse man thou wylt be content with a lytle to purchase safetie of the whole If thou hast the stomack of a good english man thou wylt with body and goodes keepe out the forren ennemy whiche would be glad through thy disobedience to salute thee at thy gate wherfore be not couetous where thou shouldest be lyberall nor vnkynde where thou shouldest be thanckfull nor waywarde where thou shouldest be forwarde Take to thee the stomacke of a free palfraye and not the froward touches of a restie iade Li. demori It is the propertie of th one saieth Seneca to goo forwarde lustelye with the Shadowe of a wande and of the other to renne backwarde put you neuer so muche the spurres to hym Nowe by cause our nature is so dull that it can not be stirred vp withoute some hope of benefytte Therfore I wyll briefly shewe what good hope there is by all lykely hode of this godly gouernesse And to the intent I myght appeare to saye of hir for
conscience sake what I thinke and knowe withoute suspicion of flatterie or hope of benefyt Therefore I haue suppressed my name that my penne might be the freer VVherfor if thou thīkest that either I speake more then I thynke or do that I do for any hope of benefite thou doest me wrong in misiudging and hir great iniury in not beleuing If I should reherse al thynges which myght put vs in hope of hir good godly and vertuous reigne I shoulde peruse hir wholle lyfe paste But that were to longe and rather perteyneth to the Storie to be wrytten of hir The quenes bringing vp then to this argumēt wherfore I wil only touch one or 2. things to giue goodmē good occasiō to gesse at the rest It is knowē to al mē howe vertuosly and virginly keshe hath bene brought vp what wise honest discrete sober and godly women she hath had about her howe she hath bene trained in learning and that not vulgare and common but the purest and the best which is most cōmended at these dais as the tonges artes and gods word wherin she so excedingly profited as I my selfe can wytnes that vii year past she was not in the best kind of learning inferior to those that al theyr lyse tyme had ben brought vp in the vniuersities and were counted iolly felowes So that it is lyke that nowe she is not meanlye instructed and armed with good letters If then learnyng and the cōuersation with such as be wyse and honest fashioneth and frameth the mynde as Plato sayth and maketh it tractable as waxe to prynt in good images of vertues and modest maners And commonly wel tilled land bryngeth forth good frutes we must nedes conceiue great hope yea in a manner be assured that as she hath passed many of our kynges and alour Quenes in these good studies and Sciences so she must nedes exceede them in the rest of her lyfe and gouern ment And that you may vnderstand that there hath not bene nor is in her learnyng without nature and knowledge without towardnes to practise I wyl tel you what I haue credebly hearde and assuredly beleue of her For I woulde wyshe of God that all men knew by her asmuch as I do that thei might cōceiue of her the same opinion that I haue Her first scholemaster with whome I was familiar a mā very honest and learned The Quenes schole maisters ansvver emongst other talke which we had of her for I was curious in questionīg and he gentle in answeringe tolde me once that he learned eueri day more other then she of him It semed to me a mistery as in dede it was but because he wold not kepe me in doubt he thus expounded it I teach her wordes quod he and she me things I teache her the tongues to speake and her modest and maidenly life teacheth me workes to do For saith he I think she is the best inclined and disposed of any in all Europe It semed to me a goodly commendacion of her and a witty saying of him and therfor not to be forgotten In like maner an Italian An Italiās sayinge of the Quene which taught her his tonge thoughe that nacion lightlye praise not out of their own country said once to me that he founde in her ii qualities whiche are neuer lightly yock fellowes in one woman whiche were a singuler witte and a meruelous meeke stomacke I would haue thoughte that these men had thus commended her because she was their mistresse but by certaine knowledge other waies I vnderstode that it was true and that they might haue said much more and not haue lied This dispositiō and godly towardnes being in her then can not now be but muche encreased by continuaunce of study hauing about her such as feare God increasing in yeares and taught bi affliction which as Dauid saith bringeth vnderstāding and in a nother place Psal 104. Bonum mihi domine quod humiliasti me It is my great profite Lorde that thou hast brought me lowe The Quenes aduersitie for hereby I haue learned thy law and of this I think no English man is ignorant that her affliction hath ben far aboue the condiciō of a kings daughter For there was no more behind to make a very Iphigenia of her but her offring vp vpon the altare of the Scaffolde How she behaued her selfe in those stormes and tempestes let them wytnesse who beyng hir aduersaries hadde the muynge of her I wyll saye nothynge though I coulde saye muche But this I see and therefore muste saye that than she muste nedes be in hir affliction maruelous pacient whiche sheweth hir selfe now in this prosperitie to be vtterly without desyre of reuenge or els she would haue geuen some token or this daye of remembraunce howe she was handled It was no smal iniurie that she suffered in the protectors dayes whē certen venymous vipers spued oute their poyson against hir to dymynishe hir honour The Quenes assliction in the protectors daies But God hir father and defender made hir so muche the more to enter in to the hartes of good people howe muche the earnestlyer they wente aboute to harme hir VVas it no wrong think you that she susteyned of late dayes to be first a prysoner in her owne house and garded with a sorte of cutthrotes whiche euer gaped for the spoyle of hir house that they myght haue bene fyngeryng of sum what Then with great solempniti The Quene cōmitted to the Tour. with bandes of harnessed hangemē happie was he that might haue the carying of hir to be setched vp as the greatest traytour in the worlde hoisted into the tower there kept not lyke a kynges doughter and a Quenes sister but as one that hadde come out of Turkey to betraye Englande VVhat assemblies and counselles VVhat examinacions and rackynges of poore men was there to fynde out the knyfe that shoulde cutte hir throte what gaping among my Lordes of the clargie to see the daye wherein they myght washe their goodly whyte ratchettes in her innocent bloude thinckinge that then none shoulde be spared for they sawe the bloude of the father wash of the Scaffold the daughters bloud the husbandes the wifes the yonger brothers the elders and so one after an other tyll the hangemanne was wearye VVhen they sawe that so much woode was spente in Smith fielde about holy Martirs sacrificed to the God in the boxe that poore folckes for lacke died for colde in London when they sawe the streates of London so decked and adourned wyth Gallowes and behanged with gentlemens carcases that my L. of London coulde not haue place to goo a procession when they sawe all these notable tragedies wherein no respecte was hadde neither of sexe nor kynred neither of age nor innocency neither of noble nor vnnoble had not these ratchetters good cause to hope that this blessed woman shoulde haue followed and so they haue bene out of feare of thys daye whiche is